Arjay:
I am already aware of the astronomical numbers involved with securites and currency trading and that it appears to provide a large target for taxation. However, you haven't answered how you implement a transaction tax without the consequence that the traders just work around it-- in other words: How do you stop them from "engineering" their practices and methods so that the trades don't involve transactions denominated in AUD by Australian companies in Australia. Remember, the people who do this are very clever and already work around existing laws to avoid paying tax.

Regarding the Banks, even if the banks were owned by the Government our currency is still debt based. All currency in today's modern advanced economies is debt based fiat currency. To change from fiat currency to commodity or crypto or some other based currency is a massive social and economic change.

Note that I'm not saying that your ideas are bad per se, it's just that I can't see how they can be implemented without introducing huge upheaval or by waiting for a financial emergency such as a world power country's government default. (By the way- I believe that the current US dollar lead system will eventually collapse-- anyone can see that the US government debt is unsustainable).

The GST is central to the taxation philosophy demonstrated by the Liberals in every term of office and weakly echoed by the "me toos" in the ALP.
In plain language it means the many to pay more so the few can pay less.
Accordingly the Howard government introduced the GST in order, simultaneously, to reduce the corporate tax rate by 16.7%. The present Liberal government is restricting state budgets in order to manoeuvre the states into going along with another GST rise - another Great Big New Tax. On the many. To protect the Libs' major sponsors. Small businesses will be lumbered with compliance costs along with the loss of business.

Good article! Unfortunately, this brings out the turnover tax mob, where such a tax carries all the deadweight and damage of a GST. The tax job's been done excellently and "maturely" by The Henry Tax Review, Tony Abbott, and thank God the GST was excluded from further consideration. Remember, the Henry Committee wanted 120 taxes ABOLISHED and only two added: a mining tax and a land tax? That sounds pretty good to me!

There are cities as large as Australia, [population numbers,] run by single administrations.
Meaning, much more efficient use of finite funds.
State governments, and before they pass any new law, or provide a single public service, cost the Australian taxpayer at least 70 billions per, with 35+ annual billions of that, eaten up via duplication and unnecessary admin fees and charges.
thinkabit would do well to actually think-a-bit, ditto fearless freckless freddington; albeit, possibly having to tolerate the smell of burning emanating from previously unused cerebral circuits.
A turnover tax is attacked, mainly because it can be manipulated by clever private operators and or avoided by the cash economy.
Instead we need an expenditure tax, collected automatically via the banking fraternity's mainframes, and then only as money leaves an account.
Simply put, you can't alter any of that via sharp practice, given the already low rate doesn't allow for any exclusions or adjustments! No ifs buts or maybes. And banks are not knowingly going to be party to criminal fraud!
And given we control the money printing presses, changing the ink from time to time, would require those hoarding money, to front up to exchange their outdated currency for new notes/legal tender!
In which case, those showing up which bulging suitcases filled with money, will still find themselves paying the avoided tax, as they would need to deposit their outdated money, before any exchange could progress.
And then for only 80 cents in the dollar!
They'd be better off in the long run, just paying their share of a common burden and avoiding unwanted official surveillance! The mafia's strategy!
Tax avoidance remains a criminal offence!
An expenditure tax includes all bank transfers and international remittances.
As Arjay has pointed out, the cash or black economy is just a drop in the tax avoidance bucket, when compared to multinational multibillion tax avoidance; (100 billion per) which by the way supports a very well heeled unproductive parasitical industry, which interestingly, can be relied on to agree with thinkabit and freddington?
Rhrosty.

When, oh when, are we going to get real tax reform?

The first necessary principle, is that the tax must be VOLUNTARY.

No more compulsory taxation! The enforcement arm of the tax office could be abolished and the employees sacked!

Gambling taxes help a lot, and are a step in the right direction, but this is what we should be thinking of:

What we need is a voluntary tax on sex. Each resident who reaches the age of 18 would have to decide whether or not they wish to have sex in the coming year. If they wish to have sex, they should buy a sex licence, costing $5,000; if they do not wish to have sex they should buy a virgin permit, also costing $5000. Residents would be free to switch between the two any number of times they wish during the year.

Purchase of a sex licence/virgin permit would remain completely voluntary. However a woman without a valid virgin permit could not prosecute a charge of rape, and any man who comes closer than 10 metres to any woman without a valid sex licence would be subject to six months imprisonment.

In order to be non-discriminatory, the fee would be the same for all without regard to age, sex or income.

The most equitable transactions tax, which would also recover at least some of our lost national independence, would be a Tobin type tax on all conversions of Australian currency into foreign currency and all conversions of foreign currency into Australian currency. A rate of 0.1% would bring in a lot or revenue and a rate of 0.5% to 1% would have the added advantage of stopping a large amount of international trade in finance.